Northampton Juries Complete Work In 4 Cases,

Four of six Northampton County juries completed their work this week, two of them awarding damages to plaintiffs and the others entering verdicts in favor of defendants.

A panel of nine men and three women ruled that Richard Hurd of Bangor should pay $50,000 to Charles and Marilyn Smith of Stewartsville, N.J., for a June 9, 1989, crash in Upper Mount Bethel Township. Mrs. Smith, who was represented by attorneys Kelly Rambo and Martin Cohen, claimed she suffered severe back sprain and strain and related injuries after a car driven by Hurd, who was represented by attorney Craig B. Neely, crossed the center line and hit her car.

Senior Judge Alfred T. Williams presided over that trial.

After a trial before Judge Robert E. Simpson, 10 members of a 12-member jury awarded $10,000 to Robert Martin, who was represented by attorney Robert Davison, for injuries suffered in a Dec. 19, 1990, chain-reaction crash on Freemansburg Avenue in Bethlehem Township.

The jury found that Andrew Cuff of Easton was to blame for the crash. A car driven by Cuff, who was represented by attorney Edward McKarski, struck a car driven by Alyce Templeton of Bethlehem, which hit a third car that struck the one in which Martin was a passenger. The jury ruled that Templeton, who was represented by attorney Gil Negrete, was not at fault for the crash.

An eight-man, four-woman jury before Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden ruled that Easton obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Martin S. Becker was not negligent in the 1990 treatment he provided a Monroe County woman who had an ectopic pregnancy.

Dorothy and Robert Menear of Saylorsburg, represented by attorney Ronald Shipman, said her right fallopian tube was "destroyed" and had to be removed surgically after the tubal pregnancy ruptured. The pregnancy followed surgical reversal in 1989 of Mrs. Menear's earlier tubal ligation.

Becker, who was represented by attorney Neil Conway, contended that Mrs. Menear's treatment complied with recognized standards of care.

A jury of 10 men and two women ruled that a Phillipsburg man was to blame for any injuries his wife suffered in a Dec. 13, 1987, crash in Easton. A panel of arbitrators had ruled in June that Roger C. Zellner, who was represented by attorney Mark Sigmon, was 95 percent responsible for the crash at 12th and Spring Garden streets.

The same panel, which awarded damages of $7,500 to Kay Lynn Zellner -- who said her back was bruised in the collision -- ruled that Lena Nunes of Easton, who operated the other car, was 5 percent responsible for the crash. Nunes was represented by attorney David L. Masenheimer.

The arbitration award was appealed, and after trial before Senior Judge Richard D. Grifo, the jury found Zellner at fault and awarded no damages to his wife, who was represented by attorney Shawn P. McCarthy.

Judges William F. Moran and James C. Hogan are presiding over jury trials expected to end next week. Hogan's involves a December 1990 auto accident in Bethlehem Township, and Moran's involves Lafayette Bank's claims against Jerry Lipsky Auto Sales.